


Bright Young Things

by WitchStuff



Series: Bright Young Things (temporary name) [1]
Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Friendship, Fun, Gay, Gen, Humor, LGBTQ Themes, Support, gay friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 18:23:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2783120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchStuff/pseuds/WitchStuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rae and Archie, out and about. More "out" than "about".<br/>Short stand alone, Post series 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bright Young Things

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, Madfatty, you wonderful beta you.

Rae stuffed her cold hands deep into the pocket of her jacket and looked around. "Well, here we are. Which one would you like to try first?" 

"None of them." Said Archie emphatically. "This was a bad idea, we should just go back home."

"Fuck we will! It took bloody hours to get here in that frozen train."

Archie did a little nervous dance, hugging himself against the cold night air and shuffling his feet. "Yeah, but Raaae... I've got a bad feeling about this. Look at all these people. We do not belong with these people."

"Stop dancing around, you look like you need the loo. And stop being stupid. We are young," she started counting on her gloved fingers, "we are free, we are in London. _You_ are a fag," she emphasised, using her hands to mark the entirety of him, then she pressed her palms to her chest. " _I_ am a faghag. We belong here just as much as the rest of them. Now pick a bloody club and we're going in."

"Christ suffering on a cross," muttered Archie, but he un-hugged himself and started crossing the street to the other side, where the lights coming off the club signs were sparkling on the wet road in a million colours, while music spilled out Intermittently whenever a door was opening. Dozens of noisy, vibrant people weaved around them, laughing and sometimes cat calling. Two young dandies in matching suites turned to check Archie out as they passed, and he turned bright pink and adjusted his glasses.

"So," Rae took his arm. "Which one? They all look just as slimy as each other, so I think we'll be fine no matter what you choose." When he still wasn't doing much more than looking around and then ducking his head, she sighed. "How 'bout this one?" she pointed at a red brick building sporting blackened windows and a huge neon sign flickering in a seizure-inducing rate.

"The Watering Hole?!" Archie exclaimed, noting the size of the patrons hovering about the entrance to the place. "I'm not going in there. They'll eat me alive in there."

Rae rolled her eyes at him. "Thought that was the point?"

"Funny. You think this is all a joke. You think this is so fucking easy."

"I don't think it's a joke, mate, but you talked my ear off for weeks about going to London to a proper gay place, where you could be properly gay with someone, and now we're freezing our tits off outside. Just pick one!"

"I can't. Anything can happen in there, Rae. The world of the Gays is a vast, confusing landscape, filled with labels and specifics. They've got Bears and Wolves and Bulls and Otters, and those are just the ones they tell you about in Time Out."

"Well, which one are you?"

"None. Well, I'm probably a Pup or a Cub. Or maybe I'm a twink - how the hell should I know?" He suddenly turned to her and whispered angrily, "I don't even know what kind of gay I am, how can I know what kind of bar I belong to?"

"Well," Rae stood in the middle of the pavement and put her hands on her waist. "Fuck what gay type you are. Look around, what gay type would you like?"

Sheepishly, he turned to stand with her, their backs to a shut store front, and together they checked out the talent. 

"This one's kinda cute, I suppose."

"The big one? So you're into bears, that makes you a cub."

But Archie was already moving on. "Oh, he's really cute."

Rae gave him a suspicious look. "That one? That one looks like Finn."

Archie looked at her apologetically and shrugged. She turned her head, displeased.

"Better get you someone fast, before you go after my man..." he heard her muttering, and laughed. To distract her he pointed at a rock god who was standing and smoking with his mates, all legs and tattoos. "Would you fucking look at that one."

"Wow, your taste is all over the place, isn't it."

"Well, fuck, I don't know, do I? They all look good, and d'you know why? Because I can be 95 per cent sure they're ALL GAY. Back home, I can't even look at someone and ask myself, do I fancy this guy or not?"

Rae looked at him in actual wonderment. "Why not?"

"Because, it's 99.9 per cent chance they're not even an option, and I don't want to fancy someone I can never have, so I don't go there."

"Wow," she shook her head and stared straight ahead, at a row of 30 posters of a nightclub named Smash 'n Grind that were pasted on the opposite wall. "I spent all of my adult life knowing 100 per cent that whatever bloke I fancy will want to gag upon hearing this information, and that did not once stop me from having a smut-fest in my head about every last one of ya."

He turns to her, fascinated. "What, even me?"

Rae blows air out of her mouth in a manner that means, well, DUH. "Are you gonna pick a bar or am I doing it for ya? You don't want to end up with some weird fetish by default, do ya?"

"You have to tell me all the smutty things you thought about me."

"The Fuck I do. I will take that to my grave." And she physically turned him and pushed him towards the nearest line of people. "Now stop stalling!"

"Leave off!"

"Choose!" 

"I don't want to!" he managed to escape her grip.

She stood and stared at him in disbelief. "You - I just - I can't - for fuck sake." 

Suddenly turning to a random guy walking passed, Rae called after him. "Excuse me, Hi, can I ask you a question real quick?"

"Jesus, Rae, what are you doing?"

"Getting directions."

"Stop it!" 

He tried to pull her away, pulling at her sleeve, but it was too late, as she had already started a conversation with the bloke. "So, Hi, I'm Rae, this is my friend Archie."

"Hey," the guy looked amused and waved at the mortified Archie, who kinda nodded back and tried to fade into the background, "We're new. We come from a small, none-gay-friendly fuck of a town, and we literally just stepped out of the Tube and are totally clueless."

"Really?" The bloke laughed. "You don't seem clueless."

"Well, I was being polite. It's him that's clueless." she pointed at Archie, who muttered "fuck sake" and tried to disappear into the collar of his jacket. "But you seem like a man about town, where would you advise a young gay boy to start his night around here?"

"Oh, well, I feel honoured that I could help and impart my experience and wisdom."

"We appreciate it, em... what's your name?"

"It's Denis. And if I were a young gay boy just out on the town for the first time, I would head straight down this alley on the right, pass the Hammer sign over there, and march my fine young arse into the Cock and Bull. Friendliest place around, they'd take your friend under their wings." he laughed again, leering at Archie, who took another discreet step away from the two new friends.

"Really?" Asked Rae, her eyes big and hopeful. "They'll show us the ropes?"

"Oh, yes. They will be happy to show you the ropes at the Cock and Bull. I wish I could come with, but alas, I've got a prior engagement." 

"Oh, well, we won't keep you. Thanks, Denis!"

"Yeah, good luck, kids!" Denis winked at Archie and continued on his way, chuckling. 

"Well, that was nice of him," said Rae. "Let's go." And she pulled him with her. 

"Are you actually mental? Where are we going?"

"Not to the fucking Cock and sodding Bull, that's for bloody sure!" She announced, and they both stumbled with laughter down the colourful street. 

 

THE END


End file.
